Debbie Dingell: Angst-Ridden Superdelegate And Congressional Spouse
If angst of a superdelegate were a portrait, it would look just like Debbie Dingell, the wife of Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.), chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Dingell the superdelegate (the blonde one, not the bald one; they're both superdelegates) is losing sleep over the political mess she helped cause in her state by pushing for an early Democratic primary in defiance of national party rules.
"I probably haven't slept since Feb. 4th," says Dingell, vice chair of the General Motors Foundation, maybe only half-jokingly. "Because it does matter. I really care about the people of my state."
Dingell is scrambling to help find a solution so that her people, including hers truly, will have a voice at the Democratic National Committee's nominating convention this summer. When she and other Michigan Democratic insiders pushed so aggressively to buck the DNC's calendar, who knew the stakes would be so high, the race this close, this far beyond Super Tuesday?
"Nobody foresaw this," she says. Certainly not Barack Obama, who, unlike Hillary Rodham Clinton, followed the DNC rules and didn't campaign in Michigan or put his name on the ballot -- a choice made before anyone imagined he'd be the frontrunner after 11 consecutive primary victories.
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Washington Post | Mary Ann Akers | February 28, 2008 04:00 PM